Oh there is a flu sweeping through cattle herds. Its bird flu. Its killing some cattle, but the vast majority recover. But, one result of the bird flu, california’s milk production is down 9 percent. That is an absolutely staggering number.
It’s almost like the inhumane, cramped, living conditions we permit a lot of our agriculture industry to have for animals is biting us in the ass.
And before dipshits come in about how that doesn’t apply to cage free chickens, etc. Of course that shit still affects overall product prices. One of the businesses along the line between the farm with the chickens and your grocery store aisle is going to raise the price anyway to gouge a little more profit from the system when they have the chance.
As a dairy farmer, i understand i may be somewhat biased on the evaluation of living conditions for my animals. I try very hard to make sure my animals are well cared for and have the space they need. And there is still room for improvement. Compared to a few decades ago, we are doing pretty good in my opinion.
But in the case of poultry, i do have opinions that do align a little bit more with you.
While poultry overcrowding and handling practices did play a role in exacerbating the bird flu problem, they were not the sole main driving factor that let this disease go rampant. It helped, but it isnt the whole story.
To see why, all we have to do is look at export markets and their rules.
There is a vaccine for bird flu for poultry. We’ve had it for years. Poultry farmers do not use it. Because using it limits the countries you can export your product to.
Long story short, it is more economically feasible for producers to nuke entire flocks and start from scratch, (chickens reproduce very quickly), than it is to spend money on vaccination and limit your export market.
This creates constant hot zones that spread to wild populations and migratory birds. This is why seals are dropping dead like flies on the Argentinean coast. I believe the mortality rate is over 90 percent. There are no large scale poultry farms in the falkland islands. Bird flu is so ingrained in migratory bird populations at this point that its crossing over and killing random species that are not confined or used for humans.
Cats that eat infected birds develope encephalopathy and have a massive mortality rate. Its how we first tied bird flu to cattle in the first place. Dairy farm cats are what turned us on to the bird vector. There is also no current vaccine for cattle, or many other animals. Yet.
There will continue to be huge issues with bird flu until we develope good policies to vaccinate all animals in cafo sites and let common sense and science take the lead instead of bad policy and greed. And it may be too late to be honest.
After being on the front lines from day one of the bird flu epidemic in cattle, when we didnt even know what was happening, and seeing how badly the government and officials have handled it, it is an absolute miracle that covid was only as bad as it was.
Those are fancyish eggs too. I paid $3.69 yesterday for store brand and they are often on sale for a little less. Our avian flu situation isn’t as bad yet though so it can still go up.
Yeah, these are specialty farm eggs, cage free, and brown. They’re also stacked in with the organic eggs. They probably command a markup without the price increases from bird flu. This is also probably some trendier grocery store OP is shopping at.
Our “fancy” grocery store has a dozen cage free large brown eggs for $5.49, so either this is a local issue in Denver or OP is posting some BS engagement bait.
Denver is a special place, further its one city in a VERY large country and they don’t cost anywhere NEAR that much in most places. I’m in the middle of Wyoming and 18 large eggs (Dozen and a half) cost $6.72. I can buy 18 Brown Cage Free Organic eggs (just like OPs) for 8.87.
Weird: this is Safeway, Canada
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Hey Internet stranger, can I buy some of your eggs?
quick, before the orange clown adds tariffs 😆
(For readers, with the USD-CAD conversion they’re closer to
$5$4)More like $4.
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This needs more upvotes. There’s no way these should cost more than meat, whatever the excuse.
There isn’t a massive bovine flu killing huge swathes of flocks…
The bird flu is likely affecting all of North America. Mine is commentary on Canada vs States rxns on the price of eggs.
I can’t imagine the focus on eggs for most of 2024 didn’t impact the price hike as well.
Lets be clear. Its still bird flu. Not bovine flu. Regardless of whether cattle are getting it.
If a person gets swine flu it doesnt suddenly become human flu.
Things have names and this distinction matters.
Sure but the point is that there isn’t a disease sweeping through cattle herds killing most of them etc.
Which is happening to flocks of birds, including poultry.
Oh there is a flu sweeping through cattle herds. Its bird flu. Its killing some cattle, but the vast majority recover. But, one result of the bird flu, california’s milk production is down 9 percent. That is an absolutely staggering number.
It’s almost like the inhumane, cramped, living conditions we permit a lot of our agriculture industry to have for animals is biting us in the ass.
And before dipshits come in about how that doesn’t apply to cage free chickens, etc. Of course that shit still affects overall product prices. One of the businesses along the line between the farm with the chickens and your grocery store aisle is going to raise the price anyway to gouge a little more profit from the system when they have the chance.
As a dairy farmer, i understand i may be somewhat biased on the evaluation of living conditions for my animals. I try very hard to make sure my animals are well cared for and have the space they need. And there is still room for improvement. Compared to a few decades ago, we are doing pretty good in my opinion.
But in the case of poultry, i do have opinions that do align a little bit more with you. While poultry overcrowding and handling practices did play a role in exacerbating the bird flu problem, they were not the sole main driving factor that let this disease go rampant. It helped, but it isnt the whole story.
To see why, all we have to do is look at export markets and their rules.
There is a vaccine for bird flu for poultry. We’ve had it for years. Poultry farmers do not use it. Because using it limits the countries you can export your product to.
https://www.newsweek.com/why-us-not-vaccinating-poultry-against-bird-flu-2010511
Long story short, it is more economically feasible for producers to nuke entire flocks and start from scratch, (chickens reproduce very quickly), than it is to spend money on vaccination and limit your export market.
This creates constant hot zones that spread to wild populations and migratory birds. This is why seals are dropping dead like flies on the Argentinean coast. I believe the mortality rate is over 90 percent. There are no large scale poultry farms in the falkland islands. Bird flu is so ingrained in migratory bird populations at this point that its crossing over and killing random species that are not confined or used for humans.
Cats that eat infected birds develope encephalopathy and have a massive mortality rate. Its how we first tied bird flu to cattle in the first place. Dairy farm cats are what turned us on to the bird vector. There is also no current vaccine for cattle, or many other animals. Yet.
There will continue to be huge issues with bird flu until we develope good policies to vaccinate all animals in cafo sites and let common sense and science take the lead instead of bad policy and greed. And it may be too late to be honest.
After being on the front lines from day one of the bird flu epidemic in cattle, when we didnt even know what was happening, and seeing how badly the government and officials have handled it, it is an absolute miracle that covid was only as bad as it was.
This is from a Zehrs, it’s Loblaws so not even remotely the cheapest place in town
With exchange, that pack of 30 organic eggs is ~11.90 USD. I usually just buy no name.
That’s expensive. I live out in the boonies where things cost more and my local store is $4 a dozen.
Those are fancyish eggs too. I paid $3.69 yesterday for store brand and they are often on sale for a little less. Our avian flu situation isn’t as bad yet though so it can still go up.
Yeah, these are specialty farm eggs, cage free, and brown. They’re also stacked in with the organic eggs. They probably command a markup without the price increases from bird flu. This is also probably some trendier grocery store OP is shopping at.
Our “fancy” grocery store has a dozen cage free large brown eggs for $5.49, so either this is a local issue in Denver or OP is posting some BS engagement bait.
That’s still an obscene price.
Voila is a delivery service, not sure why they decided to pick that out of literally everywhere in the country
They are $3.60 a dozen at Costco ($2.50 USD) last time I was there
Meanwhile my local Costco in AZ had no eggs at all 4 days ago.
Same in CO. They’re all out. That’s why egg prices are so stupid in Colorado.
What the heck happened to American eggs?
Even those Canadian eggs are relatively expensive to what I’m used to:
These are Euro prices.
Price at Tesco in the UK:
Even cheaper at Aldi:
Denver is a special place, further its one city in a VERY large country and they don’t cost anywhere NEAR that much in most places. I’m in the middle of Wyoming and 18 large eggs (Dozen and a half) cost $6.72. I can buy 18 Brown Cage Free Organic eggs (just like OPs) for 8.87.
Your monopoly money buys more eggs than our real money?! Now I’ve seen everything!
That’s still high, assuming cad, but much better. It’s around 6-8 ‘freedom’ dollars down here is southern America.